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Thursday, January 22, 2015

What the ‘Allah’ verdict says about Malaysia

Citing “national security” as the reason for the ban on the word “Allah” shows Malaysia is willing to become a hotbed for extremism.
COMMENT
By J D Lovrenciear
mahkam_allah_300_1ASEAN member nations need to be extremely wary of the decision by the Malaysian courts to prohibit the Catholic Church from calling their God “Allah” in their one and only weekly news publication, The Herald.
With Malaysia taking on the chairmanship of the ASEAN Economic Community this year, member nations will watch such developments with growing concern.
Likewise, the global community of moderate nations will also not let this recent outcome in Malaysia go off its radar especially now in an environment where the IS is popping up every now and then with brutal threats and attacks involving many nations.
It is alarming that Malaysia is using “national security” to justify placing this serious impediment on the sanctity of religious freedom and the democratic right to practice one’s religion according to one’s own faith.
Malaysia’s judicial ruling also raises a painful question of what precedence Malaysia is setting for its ASEAN neighbours who form a sizeable population amongst the 1.6 billion Muslims the world over.
World authorities on Islam – both from the hallways of the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds, have spoken in defence of that universal and ancient right to call God “Allah” and warned that any attempt to make the name of God exclusive is not only sacrilegious and blasphemous but also goes against the very wisdom of human civilisation.
The Malaysian courts however think otherwise. And the leadership under Prime Minsiter Datuk Seri Najb Razak and his wise Rulers of this small nation-state concur.
I pray that Malaysia will grow out of this trap and embrace the growing world view on religion and freedom of worship and ultimately resurrect the nation to its glorious past when it was a beacon of moderation thriving on religious harmony, acceptance and tolerance.
If not, we are saying that Malaysia is willing to become a hotbed for extremism.
For that is what it means and nothing less, if the government says that the “Allah” verdict is to safeguard the nation’s security.
J D Lovrenciear is an FMT reader

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